Brock Lesnar will fight Frank Mir in the main event at UFC 100 in a contest that could establish Lesnar as not only the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion but also the undisputed biggest star in UFC history. But one longtime MMA star, Dan Henderson, thinks Lesnar has been pushed to the forefront too quickly.

My feeling about Lesnar is that it's true he hadn't earned his shot at the UFC heavyweight title when he stepped into the Octagon against Randy Couture at UFC 91 -- except that Lesnar proved by beating Couture that he did, in fact, belong. So while I think Henderson is basically right that Lesnar got his title shot based on reputation and pay-per-view sales, he earned the title by beating Couture. And with Mir up next, Lesnar is one win away from having erased any questions about his legitimacy once and for all.

That's almost exactly how I feel about Lesnar.

prozacnation1978

6/27/09 10:15:00AM

if he beats mir and he will i don't see anyone stopping this guy for awhile

mkiv9secsupra

6/27/09 10:31:17AM

Lesnar will be unstoppable at some point but he has soooooo many holes in his game that i can see almost any top HW beat him at the moment

D0wnUnd6e6r

6/27/09 10:57:17AM

Posted by Jackelope

The writer pretty much sums it up

My feeling about Lesnar is that it's true he hadn't earned his shot at the UFC heavyweight title when he stepped into the Octagon against Randy Couture at UFC 91 -- except that Lesnar proved by beating Couture that he did, in fact, belong. So while I think Henderson is basically right that Lesnar got his title shot based on reputation and pay-per-view sales, he earned the title by beating Couture. And with Mir up next, Lesnar is one win away from having erased any questions about his legitimacy once and for all.

That's almost exactly how I feel about Lesnar.

I gotta agree

warglory

6/27/09 11:28:27AM

Posted by mkiv9secsupra

Lesnar will be unstoppable at some point but he has soooooo many holes in his game that i can see almost any top HW beat him at the moment

Who Kongo? The man would get taken down by Lesnar and annihilated. Big Nog? He would get KOed and Lesnar's wrestling and (hopefully jits defense) would nullify Nog's abilities on the mat.

Te only two heavyweights I see challenging Lesnar right now, besides Mir of course, would be Carwin and Velasquez for obvious reasons; they are big and powerful and won't be bullied on the ground.

ncordless

6/27/09 12:04:49PM

Posted by warglory

Posted by mkiv9secsupra

Lesnar will be unstoppable at some point but he has soooooo many holes in his game that i can see almost any top HW beat him at the moment

Who Kongo? The man would get taken down by Lesnar and annihilated. Big Nog? He would get KOed and Lesnar's wrestling and (hopefully jits defense) would nullify Nog's abilities on the mat.

Te only two heavyweights I see challenging Lesnar right now, besides Mir of course, would be Carwin and Velasquez for obvious reasons; they are big and powerful and won't be bullied on the ground.

Cain is a great wrestler, but he is not that big for a HW.

Also, why is it that Nog gets KOed once in his career and now it is certain that he would get KOed against Lesnar. I think you gave yourself away when you said that you hoped his jits defense would be good enough to stop Nog's sub attempts.

I hope a lot of things. I hope that Wandy learns to throw straight punches. I hope that Gurgel goes for a takedown. I hope that Kevin Randleman tries to become a more complete MMA fighter and I hope that Jake Rosholt learns how to block a punch. All those things would be nice but I definitely wouldn't use one in my reasoning for why that fighter will win.

mkiv9secsupra

6/27/09 12:25:18PM

Posted by warglory

Posted by mkiv9secsupra

Lesnar will be unstoppable at some point but he has soooooo many holes in his game that i can see almost any top HW beat him at the moment

Who Kongo? The man would get taken down by Lesnar and annihilated. Big Nog? He would get KOed and Lesnar's wrestling and (hopefully jits defense) would nullify Nog's abilities on the mat.

Te only two heavyweights I see challenging Lesnar right now, besides Mir of course, would be Carwin and Velasquez for obvious reasons; they are big and powerful and won't be bullied on the ground.

Kongo IS NOT in the top 10 and i agree lesnar would make a fool out of him unless brock decided to stand for some reason.

-#1,#2,#3,#5 have such a massive overall grappling advantage Lesnar doesnt stand much of a chance imo.-Carwin would KO Lesnar 1st round-Valsquez and Overeem have a massive advantage striking and could nullify Lesnars ground advances and force Lesnar to LnP

The only two top ten i could see Lesnar beating are Couture and Arlovski

just my opinion..... Lesnar's only wins are from stylistically good match ups for him. He still isnt a good striker by any means, and we havent seen anything in the form of subs/defense. We still dont know if he has a decent gas tank....Too many holes to say he is any kind unstoppable force

Kongo IS NOT in the top 10 and i agree lesnar would make a fool out of him unless brock decided to stand for some reason.

-#1,#2,#3,#5 have such a massive overall grappling advantage Lesnar doesnt stand much of a chance imo.-Carwin would KO Lesnar 1st round-Valsquez and Overeem have a massive advantage striking and could nullify Lesnars ground advances and force Lesnar to LnP

The only two top ten i could see Lesnar beating are Couture and Arlovski

just my opinion..... Lesnar's only wins are from stylistically good match ups for him. He still isnt a good striker by any means, and we havent seen anything in the form of subs/defense. We still dont know if he has a decent gas tank....Too many holes to say he is any kind unstoppable force

Mir: Lesnar will beat him standing, and when it does goes to the ground from Mir pulling guard or Lesnar going in for the finish... Lesnar will be far more controlling rather than just trying to donky kong his opponent. I guarantee you lesnar has been drilling sub defense like no other since his first loss and barring an out of left field highlight submission.. lesnar will unify the belts.

Nog: It may have been the staph infection that was rumored, but he looked slack against Mir and one thing that a lot of people are (including myself) speculating is that all the damage he takes every fight is catching up with him. If Mir could knock him down... Lesnar would blast him.

Barnett: would get bullied.. simple as that.

Carwin: would get KOed by lesnar in the first round. Carwin is the only fighter with the same size, and strength advantages as lesnar and who also packs the KO power that comes with XXXXXL gloves. But Carwin gets rocked in almost every one of his fights by hws who are considerably smaller... lesnar would hand his punch and it would be lights out. Also if lesnar decided to... he would be able to dominate on the ground as well because Lesnar is a far better wrestler.

Velasquez has a massive striking advantage? did you see him try to strike with Kongo? Kongo has great standup... but kongo has never been able to embarass anybody on the feet like that in the ufc. Velasquez's standup looks good and sounds cool.. but lesnar would have a distinct advantage on the ground and the ability to get it there

Overeem shouldn't be in this conversation before he competes where he gets tested and beats a top 10.

The only fighter on that list that should be a legitimate favourite is Fedor.. and thats because his style of standup would probably give lesnar trouble... and even if lesnar did get it to the ground, fedor's submission game would probably prevail.

What people dont give brock credit for right now is how effective his standup is. He doesn't have the boxing skills of arlovski or the head movement of couture, but he has what looks like a very solid chin, quick punches, and his hands are so big and he's so strong that if he lands, you're gone. Seriously... look at the punches he's landed standing up... he knocked down mir, broke herring's orbital bone and sent him rolling backwards, and rocked couture twice.... the doode's standup isn't textbook, but every fighter that steps in with him needs to respect it. With that said, right off the bat, i would give the standup advantage to lesnar over every fighter on the top 10 list aside from fedor and that's because fedor's speed and style is something that lesnar would struggle with

With that said, it kinda makes you think that lesnar could sprawl and brawl his way to victory against almost any opponent which is a scary thought considering how hard he hits and how impossible it would be to take him down

telnights

6/27/09 1:36:45PM

Posted by mkiv9secsupra

Lesnar will be unstoppable at some point but he has soooooo many holes in his game that i can see almost any top HW beat him at the moment

I train a lot of Pro fighters and I don't see many holes in his game at all so I would like to know what holes you speak of.

Giant_Ochai

6/27/09 2:42:50PM

Henderson earned a title shot by losing. Lesnar at least got a shot coming off of a win.

Kongo IS NOT in the top 10 and i agree lesnar would make a fool out of him unless brock decided to stand for some reason.

-#1,#2,#3,#5 have such a massive overall grappling advantage Lesnar doesnt stand much of a chance imo.-Carwin would KO Lesnar 1st round-Valsquez and Overeem have a massive advantage striking and could nullify Lesnars ground advances and force Lesnar to LnP

The only two top ten i could see Lesnar beating are Couture and Arlovski

just my opinion..... Lesnar's only wins are from stylistically good match ups for him. He still isnt a good striker by any means, and we havent seen anything in the form of subs/defense. We still dont know if he has a decent gas tank....Too many holes to say he is any kind unstoppable force

Mir: Lesnar will beat him standing, and when it does goes to the ground from Mir pulling guard or Lesnar going in for the finish... Lesnar will be far more controlling rather than just trying to donky kong his opponent. I guarantee you lesnar has been drilling sub defense like no other since his first loss and barring an out of left field highlight submission.. lesnar will unify the belts.

Nog: It may have been the staph infection that was rumored, but he looked slack against Mir and one thing that a lot of people are (including myself) speculating is that all the damage he takes every fight is catching up with him. If Mir could knock him down... Lesnar would blast him.

Barnett: would get bullied.. simple as that.

Carwin: would get KOed by lesnar in the first round. Carwin is the only fighter with the same size, and strength advantages as lesnar and who also packs the KO power that comes with XXXXXL gloves. But Carwin gets rocked in almost every one of his fights by hws who are considerably smaller... lesnar would hand his punch and it would be lights out. Also if lesnar decided to... he would be able to dominate on the ground as well because Lesnar is a far better wrestler.

Velasquez has a massive striking advantage? did you see him try to strike with Kongo? Kongo has great standup... but kongo has never been able to embarass anybody on the feet like that in the ufc. Velasquez's standup looks good and sounds cool.. but lesnar would have a distinct advantage on the ground and the ability to get it there

Overeem shouldn't be in this conversation before he competes where he gets tested and beats a top 10.

The only fighter on that list that should be a legitimate favourite is Fedor.. and thats because his style of standup would probably give lesnar trouble... and even if lesnar did get it to the ground, fedor's submission game would probably prevail.

What people dont give brock credit for right now is how effective his standup is. He doesn't have the boxing skills of arlovski or the head movement of couture, but he has what looks like a very solid chin, quick punches, and his hands are so big and he's so strong that if he lands, you're gone. Seriously... look at the punches he's landed standing up... he knocked down mir, broke herring's orbital bone and sent him rolling backwards, and rocked couture twice.... the doode's standup isn't textbook, but every fighter that steps in with him needs to respect it. With that said, right off the bat, i would give the standup advantage to lesnar over every fighter on the top 10 list aside from fedor and that's because fedor's speed and style is something that lesnar would struggle with

With that said, it kinda makes you think that lesnar could sprawl and brawl his way to victory against almost any opponent which is a scary thought considering how hard he hits and how impossible it would be to take him down

beautiful analysis... I ha ve to agree with everything you said as I could not put it into better words.. only thing I could add would be agaisnt Carwin.. He is the only one with the same advantages as borck and would be a great test of brocks chin.. but I do not think he could stop Brocks take down and thats where Brock would dominate him..

gartface

6/27/09 3:21:17PM

Posted by Giant_Ochai
Henderson earned a title shot by losing. Lesnar at least got a shot coming off of a win.

Umm...no. Henderson got a shot because he held both the Pride Middleweight and Welterweight(not sure if that's what they called it) titles. He lost the middleweight title in a unification bout to Rampage(awesome 5 round war), dropped down to 185 where he's more comfortable and lost his unification bout to Anderson, who he was dominating for the first round and decided to try and bang with Silva.
Brock didn't deserve it at the time, but proved he belongs by decimating Couture.

slapshot

6/27/09 4:46:07PM

The Lesnar hate is getting so stale, I agree he should have had more fights but at this point it's just beating a dead horse.

From here on out he's going to fight so moving on to this week, Lesnar keeps improving, like daily. Thats got to be scary for Mir who was a few seconds from lala land and managed to capitalize on a rookie mistake and sub him. Its my opinion he wont be easy to sub this time and his striking keeps looking better.

I have a no clue why anyone would pick Velasquez over Lesnar, its just not happening lol.

Shane Carwin has a puncher chance I guess but his chin doesn't look all that solid and Brock I would assume enjoys a fairly large reach advantage but then thats just stand up why brake down all that when we know he would be able to take shane down and pound him out?

We are still talking about the UFC here right? I mean there is no real reason to toss around names that we know will never fight Brock like Fedor and Barnett so in the UFC I only think there are a handful of real challengers Nogueira, Mir and Gonzaga, just because Gabe has some tools that "IF" used correctly could cause Brock some issues but Im not saying he would win.

Assuming he beats Mir, If I had to pick a Brock killer its Nogueira all the way and after that I would not be shocked to see Brock walk over the rest of the division but then I feel its still a weak HW division.

Ive said this before, did he deserve the opportunity? No.Dose he deserve the title? absolutely, no matter how he got there he beat the champion to get it.

Posted by wapttn Velasquez's standup looks good and sounds cool.. but lesnar would have a distinct advantage on the ground and the ability to get it there

I cant follow you there, its a proven fact that 99.9% of the time when two really good wrestlers get together its always a stand up war. I do think Brock would win that war but I dont see him just tossing Velasquez to the ground at will.

Jackelope

6/27/09 8:16:01PM

Posted by telnights

I train a lot of Pro fighters and I don't see many holes in his game at all so I would like to know what holes you speak of.

Not that you made this post directed at me, but here are a few holes in Lesnar's game that I've personally noticed-

#1- Of course, it's footwork. It's gotten better, but his first couple of fights he was definitely stutter stepping a lot.

#2- Leaving his neck hanging in the open on takedown attempts

#3- He learned this lesson the hard way, but he still needs to be careful of his legs IMO. If he tries to ride on Mir like he rode on Herring, Mir will have no problem reaching under, grabbing a leg, and rolling. I'm 99.9% positive that this is something Lesnar has worked on, though.

All in all his game is improving very quickly, though. I still think he has holes to exploit, but they're getting smaller and smaller. His nerves were WAYYY better in the Couture fight. Against Mir he looked like an absolute wreck, so he obviously addressed that. I think some things like a lot of lateral movement on the feet to make Lesnar chase his opponent and hit air could do a lot of good. He tends to load punches and lean his chin over his foot a little bit too.

I think there is still so much we haven't seen of Brock Lesnar. Both good and bad. I'm willing to bet that an experienced fighter who can somewhat dictate where the fight takes place and take a punch or two could expose a lot of holes. Then again, I would hate to see Lesnar in full mount on somebody, and that's something we haven't seen yet that could be devastating.

CwB

6/28/09 6:34:24PM

so many comments for and against lesner that i disagree with that i dont know where to start so i wont

gnl68

6/28/09 7:00:23PM

Brock Lesnar is a very good wrestler,thats IT.He has No ground game,which most of the posters think he has learned in 16 months.16 months with any respected black'd belted instuctor would make you a what,not even a purple belt at Very best.His striking is basic straight forward,jab,jab,boom.The ONLY way he beats a well rounded not over the hill legit heayweight is by bull wrestling,and gnp.YES it is more then enough to stop most average heavyweights.I believe that he can be sub'd or ko'd by the best heavy's.The only problem is that i think the ones with the best chance of beating Brock are the two guy's fighting each other shortly.I think the loser Fedor or Josh could both serve Brock on a platter.I am a devoted UFC fan,dont get me wrong and i love the fact that with Brock,he seems to really want to evolve into the champ that he wants.I just don't think there is any technique to his ground and stand up.Classic battle of Strenth vs Technique.

Jackelope

6/28/09 8:20:15PM

Lesnar has been training for like 3 years now. Not that it's a whole bunch of time, but it's definitely not 16 months. Besides, wrestling accounts for something, and given that his life was devoted to wrestling and physical strength, athleticism, etc... it's not like he is some couch potato who just decided to try MMA.

What I'm getting at is that wrestling, strength, and athleticism can overcome a lack of an overall game to a certain extent. I agree that the top heavyweights will give Lesnar problems based on the technique disparity, but you simply can't say that a guy like Brock with 3 years of training is the same as some regular dude with 3 years training.

Also, I'm going to continue to hound on this point- Until they tighten up the weight range for heavyweight he will most always have a distinct size and strength advantage over his opponents. The fact that he's able to take advantage of a division full of guys much smaller than him is my main problem with Lesnar, but it's something we've all got to deal with. The fact is that if Brock Lesnar or anyone with his current qualifications had to fight at 155, 170, 185 or 205 he would most likely be considered a complete joke. Because a person at those weight classes can't expect to have a 20, 30, 40 or even 50 lb. weight advantage over their opponent. Come fight time Lesnar will have a 20-30 lb advantage over Mir, he had the same against Herring, and he outweighed Couture by 50 lbs in their fight.

WheelchairBandit

6/29/09 3:46:40AM

I think I would wait and see if Brock can even get by Mir first before I started listing all the reasons why no one in the UFC HW division can even hang with him.

I haven't heard this much "greatest of all time" hype for a 3-1 fighter since Sokoudjou.We all know how that one turned out.......

WB.

Destroyer13

7/2/09 10:32:29PM

if any top heavyweight can beat him, how did he take the title from randy in the first placE?

warglory

7/3/09 10:51:40AM

Posted by mkiv9secsupra

Posted by warglory

Posted by mkiv9secsupra

Lesnar will be unstoppable at some point but he has soooooo many holes in his game that i can see almost any top HW beat him at the moment

Who Kongo? The man would get taken down by Lesnar and annihilated. Big Nog? He would get KOed and Lesnar's wrestling and (hopefully jits defense) would nullify Nog's abilities on the mat.

Te only two heavyweights I see challenging Lesnar right now, besides Mir of course, would be Carwin and Velasquez for obvious reasons; they are big and powerful and won't be bullied on the ground.

Kongo IS NOT in the top 10 and i agree lesnar would make a fool out of him unless brock decided to stand for some reason.

-#1,#2,#3,#5 have such a massive overall grappling advantage Lesnar doesnt stand much of a chance imo.-Carwin would KO Lesnar 1st round-Valsquez and Overeem have a massive advantage striking and could nullify Lesnars ground advances and force Lesnar to LnP

The only two top ten i could see Lesnar beating are Couture and Arlovski

just my opinion..... Lesnar's only wins are from stylistically good match ups for him. He still isnt a good striker by any means, and we havent seen anything in the form of subs/defense. We still dont know if he has a decent gas tank....Too many holes to say he is any kind unstoppable force

How can you list Overeem as top 10, but not Kongo? And none of those opponents you listed, save for Frank Mir and Fedor, have a distinct advantage on the ground, I'm sorry.

Rush

7/3/09 5:54:35PM

I think for every HW that has a tool that can exploit Brock's apparent weakness(es), I think Brock has a tool to exploit theirs. Speaking in general terms, I don't think there are too many UFC fighters that one could say have no holes in their skill/game. Even the ones that apparently don't, one would always speak on relative terms.

mrsmiley

7/3/09 8:11:53PM

I've kind of reversed posistions on the subject.

When Brock first came to the UFC I was really cheering for him because I am a Pro-Wrestling fan as well an MMA fan and a lot of people gave him little chance of sucsuss in the UFC.

Now I think people tend to give him a little bit too much love.

I'll try to be as fair as I can and see it from both sides.(sorry for the long post)

Brock has proven he has a place in the UFC beyond a shadow of a doubt,but I think the guy has a lot of work left in front of him in order to stay on top.I think the fairest way to anaylize Brocks skills is to simply look at his skills alone.Lets forget for a moment that Brock cuts to 265 and just leave his size out of the picture.(I know in some anaylises that will be hard to do but just imagine it)

I don't really know how many stats you can acredit to Brock without his size advantage giving him that huge push.We haven't seen him off his back (which you can consider a back handed compliment)His stand up is improving,but I don't think it's anything based off skill alone to go crazy about.His sub defense and offensive is still up in the air.His biggest assest is his wrestling. With or without the size I say his wrestling is still just as solid.

Brock ran threw Herring,and was dominating Mir.He took Couture in the second round.Yes,I would say he's proven himself but I think their's some criticisms any fan worth his weight beer can make.

The Good: He beat Couture. The more seasoned and skilled fighter.

The Bad: Couture was coming off a pretty big layoff. And with that being said was still able to pin the bigger,stronger,Lesnar up against the cage in less than 15 seconds. When I think about that fact alone I have to lean towards guys like Carwin and Cain making a very,very,competitive match up for Lesnar. They might not have Coutures credintials,but I believe they have enough of their own strengths to take Brock.

The Good: He beat Heath Herring. A guy who's fought a who's who of MMA stars.Sure he didn't finish Herring,but Brock was still earning his stripes and Heath is a tough dude anyway.

The Bad: The Heath that Brock fought,is not the prime Heath Herring who was a top 10 in the heyday of PRIDE. Looking back on it,it seems more like a gatekeeper fight.

The Good: He nearly beat Mir,and had he not been deducted a point,may have taken the fight.

The Bad: Mir might have shown Brocks biggest weakness with submission defense. Lesnar even admitted they trained to defened the same move 1,000 times over.

Thinking about it I have to end with this

1. Brock earned his spot by taking down Couture. Plain and simple

2. He may have taken Couture,but who's to say some of the other up and comers in the HW division couldn't have done the same? It's looking more stacked than ever and Brock seemed to get leap frogged ahead. Mainly on name recognition.

3. I think Brocks most competitive fights won't be against guys like Mir,Couture,or Nog,but the UFC's other young blood such as Cain,Carwin,Kongo,Dos Santos,Gonzaga,etc.

4. When analizying Brocks skills on the skillls alone, I don't see anything amazing on the exception of his wrestling. I think what we have seen of him is on par and he's making progress, but I don't think we've witnessed anything to gawk at yet if you take out the weight equation.

5. Lesnar is simply is beast. A force to be reckoned with. I would say Brock is a fighter of great potential,and has showed us a nice portion of what he has to offer as an MMA fighter.Whether you agree with how he got their are not,for better or for worse,he is the UFC HW champion.

Rush

7/3/09 8:58:54PM

Posted by mrsmiley

I don't really know how many stats you can acredit to Brock without his size advantage giving him that huge push..

Good post overall.

I do want to comment on this because I touched on it in another thread. I'm not sure if you read it. I think the aspect of size is kind of moot when it comes to HWs. First of all, the fact that Brock is big kind of makes eventual criticism of his putative technique inevitable. Throughout my martial arts experience (12 years+) I have seen this type of criticism over and over again. Big guys always get burned, regardless of their skill, because of the sole fact that they are big and strong and are therefore accused of using that over technique. I think at some point you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Last time I checked things like size and speed are assets to MMA (pretty much any sport). So how come guys in the smaller weight divisions get credited for their size, strength and/or speed, but a HW is criticized for it?

Also, as I said in the other thread, you have small HWs and you have big HWs. There is nothing holding the smaller HWs back from bulking up to try and get a strength or size advantage. Instead, some choose to stay on the smaller side in favour of agility and speed.

mrsmiley

7/3/09 10:28:48PM

Posted by Rush

Posted by mrsmiley

I don't really know how many stats you can acredit to Brock without his size advantage giving him that huge push..

Good post overall.

I do want to comment on this because I touched on it in another thread. I'm not sure if you read it. I think the aspect of size is kind of moot when it comes to HWs. First of all, the fact that Brock is big kind of makes eventual criticism of his putative technique inevitable. Throughout my martial arts experience (12 years+) I have seen this type of criticism over and over again. Big guys always get burned, regardless of their skill, because of the sole fact that they are big and strong and are therefore accused of using that over technique. I think at some point you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Last time I checked things like size and speed are assets to MMA (pretty much any sport). So how come guys in the smaller weight divisions get credited for their size, strength and/or speed, but a HW is criticized for it?

Also, as I said in the other thread, you have small HWs and you have big HWs. There is nothing holding the smaller HWs back from bulking up to try and get a strength or size advantage. Instead, some choose to stay on the smaller side in favour of agility and speed.

I think it will be interesting to see what happens with a lot of these bigger guys making their way into MMA.If guys like Brock and Lashley are the beginning of a big trend in MMA HW's,and they see lots of sucsuss,I don't think it will be long before people start talking about a SHW class.I'm not really fond of the idea,but I could see it happening.

I agree with you that in most cases bigger guys get bigger criticism.A more skilled,smaller fighter should most the time be able to offset the bigger mans size.Neutralizing that advantage.So long as the bigger guy isn't as well versed as the smaller man in skills.Then the smaller guy will be in trouble.

"So how come guys in the smaller weight divisions get credited for their size, strength and/or speed, but a HW is criticized for it?"

I do agree that HW's get called out on it more than any other weight class,but I do think we see other guys get criticized for it to. Just not as much.

More than anything I was trying to point out that I believe Brock relies more on his size than most people are saying.I believe he's improved,but I'm not willing to make the leap that he's advanced as much as some are giving him credit for.I don't think we've seen him fight enough to really make a fair call,whether it be positive or negative.I'm excited to see Brocks next 2 or 3 fights though.Those will be most telling.